This article is from the British comedy FAQ, by James Kew j.kew@ic.ac.uk with numerous contributions by others.
Unlike the long seasons common in US television, British series tend to be
short, typically six episodes. Generally UK series are written by the same
writer (or often, the same team of two writers) throughout, who don't have
the time to turn out more than about six episodes. Most US series have a
large team of writers, each of whom writes a few episodes a season.
 
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